Protection Detail
by Red Tigress
Summary: Movie-verse, one-shot. Written for the prompt "You don't do things like things like that. I don't need protecting." Clint gaped at him, then it hit Tony. "Oh God, I'm turning into Fury." Rated for cursing.


_A/N: Again, trying to transition into that more lone-wolfy, assholish Clint I think might be the one in the movie. Hard to say at this point, especially when Jer's so yuppy on the red carpet. LUCKILY, RDJ *IS* Tony Stark. Thanks to V again for the prompt. Please don't hesitate to review! Also, again, I DO have some darker fics in the works. You know who you are._

Tony Stark had made it into a paranoid habit of taking the Mark V travel armor anywhere he was going that didn't already have one of his suits there. Luckily, he rarely got to use it, and it turned into just some unnecessarily heavy burden he could shove onto Happy Hogan, or some SHIELD intern.

Tonight was no exception. Coulson had come to him, saying they needed him to make a public appearance at a fundraiser downtown, since for some reason Coulson couldn't quite seem to fathom, people liked him. Thor was in New Mexico, Steve was on some mission with Natasha in Louisiana, and Bruce wasn't legally permitted to make public appearances. Tony had reluctantly agreed, but only if he could bring Clint. Tony wanted to have some fun watching the archer squirm.

Coulson had raised an eyebrow but agreed, and Banner had snickered when a short Jarvis-summoning later, Clint came into the lab wanting to know what the hell was so important.

"Do you own a tux?" Tony asked.

"What? No, I…" he trailed off, looking around the room, at the grinning Tony and Bruce, the somewhat apologetic Coulson. "No. No, absolutely not! I'm not going to whatever crazy-ass party you're throwing!"

"It's for SHIELD! We need the money; you blew up that hovertank someone stole last week." Tony sneered.

"YOU blew that up!" Clint shouted at him. "And why don't you give them money if they need it so bad?"

Coulson coughed. "He did. But the Board won't let him give more. So we have to fall back on the regular plan."

"Why isn't HE going then?" Clint shouted, pointing to Tony.

"I am. But Clint, you're a superhero now. Everyone knows your face. Best keep up those public appearances. It's easy." Tony came over lightly tapping Clint on the face who looked positively disgusted.

Which is how Clint now found himself sipping a jack and coke in the farthest corner of the room he could find, glaring angrily at Tony schmoozing it up with the patrons, and at the few SHIELD agents who would still make eye contact with him watching the perimeter.

At least he got to drink.

He had spent so long in covert ops that the sudden shift into the limelight still left him reeling. Other agents didn't resent him because of it, but…they certainly weren't on speaking terms anymore. It was like that common ground had just vanished. He wished Natasha were here. She was the only other person on the team that understood the whole internal bureaucracy bullshit.

Luckily, no here really seemed to recognize him out of his uniform, and Coulson wasn't pushing him to mingle. Tony had already sold the farm as far as they were concerned. He overheard random snippets of conversation that made him want to gag.

"You must have been so frightened!"

"Not really. It's sort of the norm for me now."

"I saw on tv when you got thrown through that building…that must have really hurt!"

"I designed the suit to withstand much heavier impacts than that. It was nothing, really."

Clint knew they were lies, knew Tony could get as smashed up and terrified as the rest of them. But it was better these people throw their money at something they thought was a long term investment.

Tony was just moving up to the podium to make his final pledge speech when an explosion rocked the building, sending people to the floor and smoke and flames filling up the place in an instant. Clint found himself on the floor, ears ringing and coughing violently. He looked up, trying to find the threat, but he couldn't see anything, couldn't hear anything other than screaming, the yelling of SHIELD agents, and bullet fire. He got up, moving towards where he knew the hallway was, and where his bow and the Mark V armor were. He stumbled over numerous guests, but finally made it to the hallway. He ducked back into the smoke filled room as bullets clipped the wall near his head.

He got on the floor, poking his head out the doorway again. Bullets still continued to clip the wall above him, but they were nowhere near the ground. It seemed in the smoke his assailants couldn't see him, either. Poor planning on their part.

He army crawled into the hallway, where a dead agent was lying over both his bow case and the Mark V. He had just snapped open his case, pulling his quiver onto his back and snapping the bow limbs into position, when he saw Tony stumble coughing out into the hallway.

Clint didn't think, just acted. He leapt up from where he was lying on the floor as the bullets began to fire, and a feeling like someone had just thrown a sledgehammer into his side made him cry out. They both crashed onto the floor of the conference room, Clint on top of Tony and taking deep breaths.

"Clint! What the hell?" Tony scrambled out from underneath him, before noticing the wheezy breaths Clint was taking. "Goddamn it, Clint!" Tony tore open Clint's dress shirt, and breathed a sigh of relief to see the vest underneath, where the bullet had been stopped. Tony let out a relieved, desperate laugh. "Do you always wear a bullet-proof vest to parties?"

Clint sat up, still breathing hard and wincing, but finally getting his breath back. "You don't?"

Tony turned serious again in a heartbeat. "You don't do things like things like that. I don't need protecting." Clint gaped at him, then it hit Tony. "Oh God, I'm turning into Fury."

"For fuck's sake, Tony, you would have been dead!" Clint ignored the Fury comment, getting to his feet and loading the bow. There were still a few SHIELD agents in the room, ushering the guests into a corner and telling them to keep their heads down. "I _DO_ do things like that, because I'm sorry, but you're still an idiot when it comes to military tactics. You're not in your armor all the time, and it's damn dangerous to think that way!"

Clint inwardly cursed at the way the man stood there, blinking, saying nothing. He couldn't afford this hurt feeling shit, not right now. Luckily it was only a moment before Tony's hurt look was replaced by one of indignation.

"Just…get me to my suit," he growled. It was obviously physically paining him to defer to Clint in this situation.

Clint nodded. "How long does it take to get on?"

"15 seconds."

Clint pulled him over to the door. "When I say go…" He brought the bow up, angling it so the arrow would bounce off the wall across from him and go backwards. He pulled back the string to his jaw, and loosed it. "…go!"

The arrow let off a hiss as a heavier smoke than the one from the fires started to fill the hallway, effectively stopping the bullets as men started coughing. Tony sprinted to the case, kicking it open and the sounds of metal sliding over metal were heard as the armor adhered itself to his body. Clint knew he had some sort of setting that let him see through smoke, and satisfied Tony was suited up, he ducked back into the room as he heard the first repulsor go off and a scream from the other end of the hallway.

He ran over to the nearest SHIELD agent. Since Clint wasn't supposed to be on duty, he didn't have an earpiece.

"What's going on?"

"Sir, it's A.I.M. They knew Stark would be here. Director Fury's on his way-"

"What do they have besides explosives and guns?"

"Some kind of…energy canon. They used it to blast our guys away on the first floor."

Clint cursed, sprinting back into the hallway where Tony had left a trail of bodies. Tony might be able to survive something like that in his normal armor, but not in the lightweight stuff. He got to the main lobby, running down the escalator and launching himself over the side the last few feet onto the first floor. Clint immediately saw the canon mounted on top of a truck, smoking. SHIELD SUVs had been tossed through the lobby windows and were now scattered around, making the hotel look like a junkyard.

And sure enough, Iron Man was trying to pull himself slowly out of the middle of one, armor smoking and arc reactor flickering.

Clint grabbed an arrow, loading it and firing it into the truck's wheel. A second later, an explosion rocked it, tipping the truck and making the men on top who had been about to fire the canon scramble away. Clint ran over to Iron Man.

"You okay?"

Metal clacked as Tony moved his hand to his side, groaning and leaning forward. "Been better," he gritted out. "I think you were…right about…the tactics thing…"

Clint let out a little breath of annoyance. "Well, you don't need to know how to win the battle of Normandy or anything, but you should at least look before you leap." He took Tony's hand, pulling him into a standing position.

They both froze as they heard a roaring, expecting it to be some new threat. Instead, a green mass dropped from the sky, landing on the upturned truck and smashing the canon. Men screamed as Hulk grabbed them, hurling them into another building.

"Oh look, our backup's here," Tony groaned. "Let's say we leave the party early. I can…tell you don't wanna be here, and I think I've had…enough…for one evening."

"Bruce DOES seem to be enjoying himself," Clint said thoughtfully, looping one of Tony's arms around his shoulders. Tony groaned.

"This suit's gonna wrinkle…"

A SHIELD SUV pulled up to them and they piled in, leaving the rest to Fury and Hulk. That night they earned triple the donations they had been promised.


End file.
